Improvements in the video and photograph capturing capabilities of digital devices including, for example, smart phones, tablet computers, phablets, and digital pocket cameras, have increased steadily with each new generation of such devices. Because of such improvements and the ease of use of such devices based on their large displays and touch-screens, an increasing number of users primarily rely on these devices for their video and photograph capturing needs. However, such devices are generally not useable under water or in wet conditions, which typically would cause irreparable damage.
As a result, several manufacturers have developed waterproof housings including, for example, LIFEPROOF cases available from Treefrog Developments, Inc. of Fort Collins, Colo. However, conventional waterproof housings for such devices do reasonably well for protecting such devices from water infiltration, but do little to take advantage of the advanced video and photograph capturing capabilities of such modern digital devices or enable the convenient use of a device's touch-screen for use of such advanced capabilities in challenging conditions such as underwater or in wet conditions. See, for example, U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2013/0082963 directed to a waterproof housing for digital devices having basic push buttons disposed for contacting specific areas of a devices touch-screen or overtly simple and limited swing arm actuators for performing swipe operations on the touch-screen. Moreover, this published patent application teaches the use of a simple fixed transparent glass lens located on the housing proximate an optical sensor of the digital device, which permits disadvantageous amount of extraneous light to contact and adversely effect captured video and photographs as well as disregards the optical needs for underwater photograph.
Likewise, the proposed solution disclosed in U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2012/0154569 of a waterproof housing having a control arm extending therethrough with a rubberized tip to operate the touch-screen would prove to be exceedingly difficult to use underwater or provide unstable operation such as when canoeing or kayaking.
Correspondingly, waterproof housings for single-lens reflex (“SLR”) cameras are known but use camera specific controls that are not typically useable for controlling touch-screens. See, for example, the multi-directional pad for an underwater camera housing described in U.S. Pat. No. 8,787,745 that utilizes a complex level system to achieve control of camera dial pads, which are not readily analogous to touch-screen controls.
Accordingly, known waterproof housings prove to be very limited in enabling a user to take advantage of the advanced video and photograph capturing capabilities of modern digital devices, or in enabling convenient use of a device's touch-screen to utilize of such advanced capabilities systems in adverse conditions. Moreover, such waterproof housings further fail to provide any teachings with regard to advantageous and cost-effect systems for providing interchangeable lens or light filters required by avid photographers and videographers.